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Bricklife

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Review: Star Diamond Ice Cream Truck #82108

So my dad is recovering from his heart bypass and after visiting him in the hospital my girlfriend and I decided to unwind a bit and do some malling in Greenhills. We found this small shop in a corner of Shoppesville on the second floor called Regina. It was awesome! They had a good selection of China brick toys that I've only ever seen in Divisoria. Their prices were also very reasonable being only about 15 pesos to 100 pesos more than the Divisoria pricing.

So tempting!

So I thought I would get out of the shop with almost zero damage to my wallet when I got the following minifigs for 60 pesos each: A Hulk knock-off minifig and a Chima knock-off which said Ghima on the box. Both were pretty sweet minifigs!

That Chima knock-off had awesome build quality, almost Lego levels

Before I dashed off to pay for the two minifigs I decided to wade into the stack of boxes at the back. I saw a ton of Star Diamond school buses (which I actually also want but the sticker price was 700 pesos) and then at the very back we saw the Ice Cream Truck! Yeah that 200 peso price difference with the school bus and the Lego Friends color scheme made both me and my girlfriend yelp with delight and caused my wallet to groan. :) It was the last box there (as opposed to 3 school buses) so I grabbed it and bought it.

So yes this nice brick set is 500 pesos or about 12 US dollars (at the 43 peso to a dollar rate). The same sized Lego set would have cost me anywhere from about 1,500 pesos to 2,000 pesos. The set itself was manufactured by Star Diamond, what I personally think is the closes to Lego among all the China brick toys (see my previous article about alternative brick toy brands: List of Alternative Brick Toy Brands)

Sweet colors! Even sweeter sticker price at 500 pesos!

Well let's get down to the set:

THE BOX

Star Diamond as I've said is what I'd like to think as top of the totem pole for China brick toys. Their box has some of the best quality I've seen in brick toys not named Lego.

Although I don't understand what "The first car of carve the dream!" means...

Yep MADE IN CHINA alright...

At the bottom we can see the other sets from this series. It seems to mimic the Lego City line of vehicles that normally cost from 1,500 pesos to 2,000 pesos in shops here.

The minifigs that are in this set are some of the nicest City type figures I've seen . The guy on the bench look somewhat like the Harry Potter mini fig.

Yes shine bright like a STAR DIAMOND!

Sweet detailing! In the truck there is an ice cream machine!

Model no. 82108

And just like Lego they brand this line of sets as CITY!

BUILDING THE SET:

Minifigs in Pieces!

The minifigs are something you totally build including deconstructed arms and legs! HAHA!

Did I open a Friends box?

The bricks have a nice gloss to them and gives the overall feel of opening a box of Lego Friends.

Looks like a Lego instruction sheet!

The instruction sheets also gives that same Lego feeling. Top class!

Yep you have to really ASSEMBLE the mini fig including arms and legs!

SOME HIGHLIGHTS:

Nice stickers! Kinda like Gundam sticker sheets!

The stickers looked like water transfer stickers. Very nice! Easy to peel off and easy to apply

Somewhat bothersome and nice at the same time! The minifig is fully deconstructed so you can build it yourself

Help someone disassembled the minifig!

The minifies! Is that you Harry Potter?

The grey minifig bears an uncanny resemblance to the Harry Potter minifig of Lego. There was a minor deviation from the box art as the Ice Cream guy had blue arms in the box art but had white ones here. Again it is a minor deviation.

Promotion for their Transformers like line found as a box insert

GAH! ambush! This was an insert in the box! And now I want them! Robot sets that look better and seems much much better than the Kre-O transformers line!

Rubber wheels! Like Lego!

Wheels with their axles! Nice!

Not so apparent but the pegs have Star embossed on them like Lego pegs have Lego

THE FINISHED PRODUCT:

And here we have the truck fully constructed but without the stickers yet. Looking sweet there Mr. Ice Cream Man!

Awesome!

And here we have the Ice Cream guy in the truck with stickers applied!

A closer look!

My girlfriend is pleased! In her opinion this is a much better building experience than the one she had with Kre-O. Her only complaints were the lack of real ice cream pieces (like the popsicle accessories in Lego) and the seeming tightness of the bricks.

Sweet KISS Lego shirt!

Harry Potter seems to be taking someone on a date here!

On an Ice Cream date!

So yeah if you get a chance grab some Star Diamond brick sets! They are without a doubt the closest thing to Lego at a fraction of the price!